ALBUM REVIEW: Cancer – Riverhead

Danish rock band RIVERHEAD return with their second album Cancer. The group, known for their post-hardcore and metal sound, have decided to be more open and vulnerable on their second outing as they focus on themes of life, death and fighting for survival. But, given their background in rock and metal, it’s not surprising that the journey is loud, angry, and leaves you ready to jump into a sweaty crowd.

As the album opens with Time, RIVERHEAD waste none of it as they kick off with loud, gnarly guitars and drum beats, accompanied by gruff vocals that perfectly display the frustration that they’re eager to get off their chest. It translates so perfectly onto us as the listener that we soon share that emotion and we’re ready to scream at the world. And it doesn’t stop there as the band move into Broken Boy that opens with breathing, leaving the listener slightly on edge, before a nice rhythm blended between bass and guitar begins to create a catchy hook. A recurring theme, well two recurring themes, throughout the album is that the quality of vocals is consistent and each song has its own unique signature where a different style from the alternative umbrella is used.

This variation is all over the record; whether it’s 80s metal as seen on Love Cuts, that has a catchy rhythm and makes you want to dance, in fact it would perfectly suit an underground rock club; or Numb To The World, which is more alt-rock inspired with a dramatic twist, and even reminds us of some of the rock tracks on the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack; or Torches and The Rusty Sound Of Love That Dies which are both anthemic rock tracks that make you want to sing along. The final three tracks are where things get most vulnerable and serious. 0806 is an acoustic song that creates a sombre mood, and in all honesty it just sounds cool; Erupt is a moody interlude track; and final song Karma is an alt-rock track that feels relatively more laidback in comparison to rest of album but remains a solid track nonetheless.

So, to summarise what RIVERHEAD have created here: consistently incredible vocals and sounds, fantastic production, moments where you’re ready to either be angry or dance, or both if you really wanted, and just overall fun. There’s not much else to be said other than this is a fantastic album.

Rating: 9/10

Cancer is set for release on April 28th via Sounds Of Subterrania.

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